Spring-clamp for textile machinery.



Patented 1an. 29, |90I.

R. P. wmso. SPRING CLAMP FOR TEXTILE l'M-HHINEBY.'`

(Applictim sled Mar. 6, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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ROBERT P. WINSOR, OF AUBURN, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE WIN- SOR it JERAULD MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

SPRING-CLAIViP FOR TEXTILE MACHINERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 667,159, dated January 29, 1901.

Application filed March 6, 1900. Serial No. '7.525. KNO model.)

Be it known that I, ROBERT P. WINSOR, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Auburn, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cloth-Clamps for Textile Machinery, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement on what may be terme( spring-clamps as heretofore ordinarily constructed, including the automatic and convertible spring-clamps set forth in my previous specification forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 604,103, dated May 17, 1898, and No. 644,543, dated February 27, 1900. In each of the clam ps referred to a torsional wire spring is pivotally supported by ahorizontal pin within the coil of the spring and serves to close the clamp upon the cloth. The spring-supporting pin, which also forms the pivot of the top jaw or arm of the clamp, has heretofore been riveted in place. Now if the spring breaks the pin must be unriveted and removed, together with the top ljaw, a new spring and sometimes a new pin inserted, and the pin again riveted. In a full length tentering-machine there are over a thousand of these springs, (one to each link,) and when one breaks, occurs quite often, the machine must be stopped some time for the required repair. Moreover, in unriveting and reriveting the pin theworknian is liable to twist or bend the top jaw, which must fit the cloth-supporting plate very accurately, and this necessitates testing the clamp over again.

In the clamps above referred to the spring and the movable jaw of each clamp have one and the same pivotal axis, and it is of great practical importance to retain this feature, because any eccentricity of one with reference to the other causes asawing action where the spring presses against the movable jaw and tends to materially increase the wear of the spring.

The object of the present invention is to provide for replacing broken springs without disturbing the advantageous coincidence of the axis of the spring with that of the movable jaw; and it consists in a novel combination of parts comprising a pair of short pivots for the movable jaw and a removable spring-supporting pin normally in line with said pivots and in a preferred construction for new clamps, wherein the tension of the spring holds the pin securely in open notches, from which it can be lifted freely when the spring breaks or becomes inoperative.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure l of the drawings is a sectional plan view of a tenter-link, showing the improved construction. Figs. 2 and 3 are sections on the broken line 2 3, Fig. 1, the former confined to the under jaw and the other section through all. Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view illustrating the application of the improvement to old clamps. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5, Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a view of substitut-.es for the spring-supporting devices shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Like letters and numbers refer to like parts in all the figures.

In all forms of this improvement the torsional spring S of the clamp is provided with a supporting-pin p, distinct from but normaliy in line and concentric with the pivots l of the top jaw or arm of the clamp and removable from the clamp and replaceable therein without detaching or disturbing the top jaw or arm when a new spring is to be substituted for one that is broken or inoperative.

Other features common .to the several forms of the improved clamp are a pair of the pivots 1 in the form of short studs that are preferably and convenienti)7 screws, in place of the single long riveted pivot-rod heretofore commonly used, and a spring-abutment 4, located in front of the line of said pivots and conveniently formed in the under jaw beneath the cloth-support u., the spring S reacting against the upper jaw at 5, and the under jaw having pivot-supportingbars 6 and 7, substantially parallel with each other and at right angles to said abutment 4.

The improved cloth-clamp represented by Figs. l, 2, and 3, apart from the presentimproved construction, is the form set forth and claimed in my said previous specification IOO forming part of Letters Patent No. 644,543, comprising therewith an under jaw A, that projects rigidly from a tenter-chain link L or its equivalent and provided at top with a slotted cioth-support a., a gripping-pawl B, swinging above said cloth-support and coacting with the cloth upon said support and provided with a clamp-converting screw b, a controller C of peculiar construction, and a laterally-swinging arm D, the latter pivoted to said under jaw at l and to which said pawl and controller are attached by pivots 2 and 3, respectively, all said pivots being horizontal and parallel to the front of the clamp.

The torsional spring S, which completes the clamp, reacts by substantiallyhorizontalarms against abutments 4 in the under jaw, beneath the cloth-support a and in front of the line of the pivots and a bearing-surface 5 in the arm D behind the line of said pivots, so as to press upwardly against said arm, which converts such pressure into downward stress at the pawl B. According to the present invention said spring S is supported on a pin p, as aforesaid, distinct from but normally in line and concentric with the pivots at l, by which the jaws are articulated. These pivots accordingly here consist of a pair of short studs, preferably shouldered and screw-threaded, which are driven tightly into holes drilled or tapped to receive them in the outer sides of the parallel bars 6 and 7 of the under jaw, and the spring-supporting pin p is held at its ends in bosses c, having notches S open at top to receive the pin 2J. The coils of the spring embrace the pin, as heretofore, and its upward working pressure gives it a downward reaction that holds the pin securely in place within the notches 8 so long as the spring is effective. Then the spring breaks or becomes inoperative, it is only necessary to lift the pin p out of the notches 8 and to replace it, together with a new spring, without any unriveting or riveting and without detachiug or disturbing the top jaw.

The leading features of the improvement are readily applied to tenter-chains now in use in the manner illustrated by Figs. 4, 5, and 6. In Figs. 4 and 5 the improvement is shown applied to an oldstyle spring-clamp, in which a one-part top jaw J takes the place of the gripping-pawl B, controller C, and arm D; but the distinct articulating pivots l and spring-supporting pin p here shown in connection with the torsional spring S of such clarnp are applicable, in common with those shown in Fig. 6, to cloth-clamps of other constructions in which such torsional springs are used. In applying the improvement in these forms it is only necessary to ream out and tap the old holes in the bars 6 and 7 of the under jaw A and to ream out the pivot-holes in the sides of the top jaw .I to fit the out-er ends d, Fig. 6, of the pivots. The inner ends of the pivots removably hold the spring-supporting pin p between them, as in Fig. 4, and the pin is released by partially retracting one or both pivots, but without removing either pivot or disturbing the top jaw.

To adapt the pivots l to so hold the remov able spring-supporting pin, the inner ends of' the pivots may be conical and the ends of the pin correspondingly recessed, as in Figs. 4 and 5, or the ends of the pin may be conical and the inner ends of the pivots recessed, as in Fig. 6. The construction represented by Figs. 4 and 5 is preferred. Other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described said im provementl I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specificationl. A cloth-clamp having, in combination, an under jaw provided with a cloth-support and a spring-abutment beneath the same, a top jaw coacting with said cloth-support, a torsional spring reacting against said abutment and against said top jaw, a pair of short pivot-forming studs articulating said jaws, and a spring-supporting pin removably supported between such pivots and in line and concentric therewith.

2. The combination, in a cloth-clamp, of an underjaw havinga cloth-support, a springabutment beneath the same, and a pair of bars arranged substantially at right angles to said abutmentand constructed with notches open at top, a top iaw coacting with said cloth-support, a pair of short pivot-forming studs carried by said bars in line and concentric with said notches and serving to permanently articulate said jaws, a torsional spring having substan tially horizon tal arms pressingr upwardly against said abutment and said top jaw, and a removable spring-supporting pin held in said notches by the downward stress of said spring, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

ROBERT P. \VINSOR.

Witnesses:

FRANK L. J ERAULD, ALVENE H. SMITH. 

